By Roman Zakaluzny
Post Staff Writer
Fresh on the heels of a Ukrainian government announcement that foreign news services needed to be �neutralized,� the Canadian government has reversed its plans to cut radio broadcasts to Ukraine, at least for the moment.
Radio Canada International � �Canada�s Voice to the World� according to its motto � is a Canadian government-funded radio station that broadcasts in nine languages around the world. A spokesperson from RCI confirmed in an email to the Post on March 15 that it will continue beaming its half-hour cultural and political affairs show in Ukraine through the fall, apparently until after the presidential elections due in October.
This move is an abandonment of plans to cut services to Ukraine that were to take effect this month. On Feb. 2, RCI announced that it was going to drastically cut back its Ukrainian language programming in order to dedicate more resources to countries such as Brazil and India, as part of the station�s �repositioning.�
Station representative Caroline St-Jacques confirmed the station�s change of heart, but said the postponement was a technical decision rather than a political one.
�To avoid limiting time constraints and to arrive at a solution equally satisfactory for both parties, we agreed with the National Radio Company of Ukraine [the state radio company that rebroadcasts RCI] to extend the deadline for concluding the negotiations until the fall [of] 2004,� St-Jacques wrote. �In the meantime, [they] will continue live transmissions of our daily half-hour broadcast in Ukrainian.�
This decision was postponed following pressure from Ukrainian groups in Canada, according to the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, an umbrella group for Ukrainians living in that country. Representatives of the UCC and the Canadian government met on March 5 to discuss the changes.
�[The UCC] took the opportunity to press the Government on several points, including... UCC�s opposition to the proposed cuts to the Ukrainian language service of RCI,� read a statement from the UCC.
When the UCC first got wind in November of proposed changes to the RCI service � including cutting broadcasts from five shows a week to two, cancelling shortwave broadcasts, and halving staff � it asked Canadians to join in a letter-writing campaign to the government and to the station.
After an audience with Bill Graham, Canada�s foreign affairs minister, the Congress announced they had received assurances from Graham that broadcasts will continue as before, but only until President Kuchma�s successor is elected.
�The Minister said that RCI plays an important role in Canadian foreign policy,� said the Congress� executive director, Ostap Skrypnyk, �and that the service will stay until at least after the elections in Ukraine.
�The RCI may be cut after the elections, but we will be campaigning to educate about the need to have RCI continue into Ukraine,� Skrypnyk continued.
The show is heard on shortwave in Ukraine and surrounding countries. It is also sent directly into the homes and flats of Ukrainians through Ukraine�s radio cable lines, and can be accessed on the Internet.
According to the UCC, the show is vital in a country where the media can conform to government dictates, and it has a loyal audience.
RCI�s decision comes at a crucial moment for Ukraine�s depleted independent media in light of recent events. Radio Kontynent, a Kyiv station that began broadcasting Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and Voice of America, had its transmitter confiscated on March 3. It also broadcast news from the British Broadcasting Corporation and Deutsche Welle.
Radio Kontynent�s owner, who left Ukraine after the seizure, claimed the station�s shutdown was part of a deliberate campaign to shut down independent media before the upcoming elections.
On March 12, the Associated Press reported that Ivan Chyzh, director of Ukraine�s State Television and Radio Committee, called foreign media in Ukraine a �very seriously disturbing factor� in a statement to reporters justifying the closure of Radio Kontynent. Chyzh went on to say that �neutralizing� them was key to protecting Ukraine�s national interests.
RFE/RL broadcasts can still be heard on shortwave in Kyiv and on FM in many regions outside the capital. A weekly point-counterpoint show can be seen on Sunday nights on Channel 5, another station that has been under pressure from the Ukrainian government, alleging undue harassment during an audit from the State Tax Administration. The audit is in contravention of a March 16 decree from President Kuchma in which he called on the Prosecutor General�s Office, the Interior Ministry, the State Tax Administration and the Emergency Situations Ministry to impose a moratorium on audits and financial inspections among media enterprises during the upcoming elections, UNIAN reported.